Scripture: Hebrews 4:14-16

Scripture: Psalm 91 

Ancient cultures had ways to remember important events; in Canaan/Israel they did this with standing stones. If one of their “gods” caused an important event or provided a significant benefit, a stone was erected as a testimony to the action of...

Pastor Ed will use some thoughts from Moses and Paul to look back with thanksgiving and look ahead with prayer as he winds up his full-time pastoralministry.Scripture: Psalm 90; Philippians 1:1-11 

Philippians 4:4-9

On Easter, we look at the very heart of the Christian faith. Why do we do what we do? Why do we believe what we believe? Why does Jesus make a difference? These are serious questions, because if we don’t believe what we are celebrating on Easte...

God gave a specific land to the people of Israel, at the crossroads of the world, and called them to be standing stones, witnesses to the one true God. It was a land of milk & honey (fit for both the shepherd & farmer) that shaped them:...

We have come to call the events described in Luke 19:28-44 (and parallels) Palm Sunday, and the event of the day “the triumphal entry.” But I think we’ve got the names wrong, both of them. Why Palm Sunday when palms were an inappropriate image ...

Scripture: Mark 8:31-38

In preparation for heading to Jerusalem and the cross, Jesus had just asked his disciples “who do you say I am?” and they responded, through their spokesman Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Then Jesus revealed that he was...

Jesus, why move? Why change your hometown? Especially at a time when that wasn’t the norm? We’ve been asked that question several times over the last 37 years as we’ve moved to several places and churches. Any time you move, it is a conscious d...

Scripture: Philippians 4:2-3.

While I was in seminary, I preached at my hometown church. I blush today at how poorly I preached, but I was also a bit frustrated at the reaction of my friends, their parents, and others who knew me as a child. Evidently there was some obstacl...

Scripture: Philippians 3:1-11

Scripture: Psalm 11

We have spent time in the desert of Israel, where we’ve seen that Israel learned trust and dependence on God. Individuals would sometimes go back to the desert to hear God’s voice and prepare for some kind of ministry. Over the next couple of w...

George Barna is a Christian pollster who occasionally compares the behaviors of those who claim they are “born again” Christians with those who say they are not Christians. Each time the polls came out roughly the same: the behaviors of the two...

Scripture: Philippians 2:25-30

We continue our look at how Jesus might have been seen in his culture, moving from a faith healer (wonderworker) to another title some gave him: Rabbi (Teacher). In Matthew 21-22, we see Jesus at the Temple, overthrowing the moneychangers’ tabl...

Much of David’s imagery in Psalms comes from the desert: God as Rock (above flooding wadis), Fortress (masada - protection from enemies), Shade at your right hand (sustaining life in intense heat). But the most important image for God in the de...

There are two issues that might get in the way of people’s reading of this morning’s story. One is the impossibility of the miraculous, given the scientific understandings of the modern era. But there is nothing irrational about miracles if you...